Maybe because he knew signing players wasn't going to make a difference? Maybe he wanted to give the kids a chance? Maybe he didn't have the go-ahead to trade away assets for players like Iginla, Murray, Morrow, Jagr, Clowe, etc. ...that all worked out in the end anyway, huh?

I understand the frustration behind the "HE DOESN'T DO ANYTHING" mentality... but we have a team that consistently makes the playoffs and doesn't draft high. WTF DO YOU WANT?!

oh right... We Want The Cup.

So by your logic, he purposely signs players like Samuelsson to a 3M per year deal WITH no trade clause......Tootoo for 2M a year (wouldn't have gotten more then 1M with any other team) who was scratched a lot of the season and all of the playoffs......because he knew it wouldn't make a difference?

Guess you can't really argue with that. God knows they sure as hell didn't make a difference and I guess that.....was.....Holland's.....plan?

I am so confused by our roster right now. Colaiacovo played well (when he wasn't injured, obviously) and gets bought out, leaving us with 7 defensemen.

We don't buy out any forwards, re-sign Miller and plan on re-signing Cleary and Brunner. Including Andersson, Nyquist and Tatar that gives us 16 forwards and we STILL can't properly fill the top 2 lines.

I understand it's an internet sports forum but people just bring me down and I get feisty when people ***** and moan about how horrible this team is managed, coached, on the ice, etc.

Do I think re-signing Clears is the best option? HELL NO. Do I understand why a guy like that might be re-signed? YES.

Do I want change and think there are better options? YES. Do I understand what keeping on a proven player might mean to a team? YES.

...but am I going to act like the sky is falling, that I know better than a man who's worked for (how many?!) years in the league, that doesn't sign players to ridiculous contracts only to buy them out a couple years latter because they were s***ty signings in the first place... I mean, I could go on and on. Literally.

We don't have Feaster, we don't have Snow, we don't have Gillis, we don't have Sather, we don't have Holmgren...

Maybe because he knew signing players wasn't going to make a difference? Maybe he wanted to give the kids a chance? Maybe he didn't have the go-ahead to trade away assets for players like Iginla, Murray, Morrow, Jagr, Clowe, etc. ...that all worked out in the end anyway, huh?

I understand the frustration behind the "HE DOESN'T DO ANYTHING" mentality... but we have a team that consistently makes the playoffs and doesn't draft high. WTF DO YOU WANT?!

oh right... We Want The Cup.

Then why re-sign Cleary? There goes Tatar's spot, and $3 mil? That has to be a typo. That's absurd for a guy on the decline who has been injured for 3 years. I'm ok with not getting Lecavalier, Horton, Clarkson, even Weiss or Ryder, but I do not want Cleary taking up a kids roster spot that provides more offence, spark and can grind out an 82 game schedule. Sometimes it's just time to move on.

I am so confused by our roster right now. Colaiacovo played well (when he wasn't injured, obviously) and gets bought out, leaving us with 7 defensemen.

We don't buy out any forwards, re-sign Miller and plan on re-signing Cleary and Brunner. Including Andersson, Nyquist and Tatar that gives us 16 forwards and we STILL can't properly fill the top 2 lines.

I am so confused by our roster right now. Colaiacovo played well (when he wasn't injured, obviously) and gets bought out, leaving us with 7 defensemen.

We don't buy out any forwards, re-sign Miller and plan on re-signing Cleary and Brunner. Including Andersson, Nyquist and Tatar that gives us 16 forwards and we STILL can't properly fill the top 2 lines.

Lovely.

I almost would rather have seen Quincey bought out, if Colo weren't so injury prone; Quincey's cap hit is higher not to mention he has been a huge disappointment thus far, he provides almost nothing offensively and is not physical enough, especially for a guy who's supposed to be in the top-4 and being paid the 2nd most among our d-men

as for the forwards, we can only hope Holland at least has some sort of contingency plan to get us to the 14 forwards the team plans to carry; I just hope he picks the right 14

Cleary skates down the left boards, trips over centre ice line, collects himself and continues down the boards. He hits the blue line with mediocre speed and gets the puck as close as he can to his favorite shooting are, top of the circle, puck literally touching the boards, and he sends a wrister to the net......bread basket! We never saw that coming!

Don't forget the trusty once in a while breakaway where he manages to shoot the puck into the corner despite nobody near him

Seriously though, we need to cut Cleary out of the equation. He's just eating a kids roster spot. We don't want Lecavalier for 5 years, but we'll keep Cleary for 3 at twice the salary he's worth at this point and then in the same breath say that in a year or 2 Jurco, Sheahan and Ferraro will be Red Wings? It's not so much making judgements at this point, it's trying to figure out the jigsaw puzzle that Holland is trying to make this lineup. He wants a youth movement, but he keeps going back to the old comfortable pair of underwear, though it's full of holes.

Cleary at $3 million for 3 years but we can't do $4.5 million for five years for Lecavalier? I get why people defend Holland, but seriously? Seriously? We'll pay a guy who spends half his ice time on his knees $3 million for 3 more years because we're worried about the "pace" of a guy who's ten times the player Cleary ever was?